Burial-casket



(No Model.)

J. N.PRUSER.

BURIAL GASKET.

No. 481,370. Patented Aug. 23, 1892.

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UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN N. PRUSER, OF UNION HILL, NEW JERSEY.

BU RlAL-CASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,370, dated August 23, 1892. Application filed February 15, 1892. Serial No. 421,5'78- (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN N. PRUSER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Union Hill, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial-Caskets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in burial-caskets; and it consists, substantially, in such features of arrangement, construction, and combinations of parts as will hereinafter be more particularly described and claimed.

The object of the invention is to provide a burial-casket of earthy material which shall be capable of quick and ready sealing in such manner as to render the same absolutely air and water tight.

A further object of the invention is to provide a burial-casket of the character referred to which shall be cheap in cost of manufacture, secure in its sealing or fastening, and strong and easy to handle, all as will more fully hereinafter appear when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the casket-body when constructed in accordance with myinvention, and Fig. 2 represents a similar view of the lid thereof. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of both the casket body and lid when the latter is secured in place, the said view also indicating the manner in which the surrounding rims or borders of each are embedded or secured in place. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation.

In carrying my invention into efiect I make the body of the casket, as well as the lid thereof, of any earthy substance or material, preferably a combined mixture of bluestone and granite, which I have found to be better suited for the purpose of lightness and durability. Surrounding the upper edge of the casket is a metallic rim or frame, which is securely embedded in the material of the body, and by the construction and arrangement of this rim a secure means of metallic fastening of the lid to the body is secured. A fault embedded in the material of the lid in like manner. The form or shape of the two metallic frames in cross-section renders the security doubly sure, all as will more fully hereinafter appear on reference to the drawings by the letters of reference marked thereon.

In the drawings, A represents the body of the casket, and B the lid thereof, both of which may be either square or rounded at the corners, as may be desired. Embedded in the upper edge of the bodyAis a metallic rim or frame 0, the outer side a of which is made to come flush with the surface of the body of the casket, as shown, while the upper side 1) thereof extends over the edge of said body, both edges of said rim or frame 0 being bent or turned over, as shown at c and d, respectively, and made to enter the material of which said body may be made. Also embedded in the material of the body at proper distances apart is a number of nuts 6, which coincide with openings f, made in the top portion b of the metallic rim or frame, and these nuts receive the screws 9, which are screwed down through openings in the lid, and thus effect a secure and air-tight fastening of said lid in place.

D represents the metallic rim or frame which surrounds the edge of the lid and enters the material of which the same is constructed, substantially as shown. The said lid is provided with openings h, which coincide with the nuts embedded in the body A, and the metallic rim thereof is bent or turned up on each edge, so as to furnish a fastening therefor in the material, such turned-over edges being made to come far enough to one side of the openings h to admit of free insertion and passage of the securing-screws g.

It will be seen that the surrounding metallic rims of both the body and lid of the casket are made to extend all around evenly and flush with the surfaces of the material body of which each is constituted and from which it is obvious that "a perfectly air-tight fit or connection between the two is had in use. It

will further be seen that by making the rims flush or even with the surfaces or edges of the material there is no liability to the material chipping oif when placing the lid down into place. In these latter connections my invention is distinguished from what has been done heretofore in this art, since I dispense with the use of a skeleton frame throughout the entire body of the casket, and which not only renders the casket more expensive and diflicult to make, but also adds considerably to the weight thereof. My invention also differs from that form of casket wherein simple nuts are embedded in the material of the body at proper intervals for receiving the fastening-screws of the lid. With this latter form the material frequently becomes chipped oif in the handling of the casket, but which cannot occur with the present form.

From the foregoing it is thought the nature of my improvements will be thoroughly understood, and it will of course be understood that the casket could be made of various forms and the rims or frames thereof shaped to correspond thereto.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A burial-casket of earthy material constructed of the body A, having a continuous metallic rim embedded around its upper edge flush with the outer surface thereof, the edges of said frame being bent or turned inwardly to enter the material, nuts also embedded in the material beneath the frame, and the lid having a similar rim aro and its edge and provided with fastening-screws for entering the nuts of the body, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN N. PRUSER. Witnesses:

E. EVERETT ELLIS,

D. G. STUART. 

